Learning  »  Class Pages  »  Archive 2015/16  »  Year 5

Hi and welcome to Year 5. We have got lots going on this year throughout the curriculum and have started fantastically! Below are our main focuses with regards topics over the year which we intend to learn about and share with you (particularly in our World War Two class assembly, as well as Ancient Greek\'s class assembly!):

Autumn 1 - Children in World War 2 and Living Things and Their Habitats;
Autumn 2 - Children in World War 2 and Earth and Space;
Spring 1 - Ancient Greece and Living Things and Their Habitats;
Spring 2 - Settlements and Properties and changes of materials!
Summer 1 - Rivers and Changes of State!
Summer 2 - Current News/Children\'s Choice!

Please see below some of our learning focuses, but please come and see us if you have any questions about our learning and wish to find out more!
Year 5 River Walk

On Monday 26th April, as part of our topic ‘Rivers’, we walked along the River Wharfe. We are lucky enough to be so close to a lovely setting and were therefore able to learn all about rivers, whether that be the course of the river, erosion, the flow of the river and many of it’s features (such as the weir, floodplains, deposits, pollution, sediments, meandering, tributaries and oxbows).

 

We were able to discuss at various points along the river, as well as sketch images (in the style of the artist we are studying, Claude Monet) and think of adjectives to inspire us in our writing. We are now well equipped to take this learning back to class.

 
 

The children were well behaved throughout, courteous to pedestrians and responded well to questioning. We’d also like to thank Mr Campbell and Mr Stringer who accompanied us on our walk.
Claude Monet Inspired Artwork

As part of our River topic, we have been studying Claude Monet's river art, as well as fine brush strokes. Here are some of our attempts at our own pieces, using impressionist style, just like our focus piece 'Soleil Levant'.

Greek Vase Day

We have been learning about Ancient Greece, with various Greek Myths and enjoying the creatures and stories behind that may or may not have been made up, but then animated. Attached are pictures of us making and completing our Greek Vases.....what do you think?

Year 5 Bikeability- Learn to ride 



On Monday 14th December 2015, most of Year 5 did a Bikeability ride, which involved children riding on the roads, signalling and following safely. Before they departed, they had to do their vital ‘M-check’ on their own bikes, as well as ensure they could demonstrate riding safely. They started from school, up Westwood Way to the high street, over the bridge to Thorpe Arch onto Dowkell Lane towards Wealsun Prison, onto Route 66 Cycle Path, crossing over Walton Road and passed Wetherby Racecourse and riding alongside A1M on the bridleway . Back down towards the River Wharfe and then along passed the Rugby Club and towards Wattlesykes roundabout rejoining the Cycle Route and up to the Boston Spa School back to Primrose Lane. 8.72miles in total.

Here is what some of them had to say:

Hannah- ‘I really enjoyed learning how to signal’;
Joshua- ‘I loved the off-roading, because I got to do lots of jumps!’;
Ella- ‘I really liked going down the hills, because it was fast and the wind blew in my face’;
Ben S- ‘I really enjoyed the cycle paths, because we got to go side-by-side with our friends and me and Josh kept splashing each other in puddles’;
Natalie- ‘I loved it, because even though I was at the back, somebody stayed with me and we went at our own pace’;
Lily- ‘I enjoyed going down the hills; however, I thought going up the hills was challenging’;
Ellieson- ‘I enjoyed choosing the right gears to use’;
Ben K- ‘I enjoyed getting tips from the instructor (Angela), even though I fell off my bike a few times!’.
 
We would all like to say thank you to Angela Gaunt and her team for the experience.
 
Greek Day

Year 5 enjoyed a wonderful Greek curriculum day. We were able to branch out in our learning and experience what it may have been like to transcribe and write in the Greek alphabet; eat Greek food and compete in Gem groups to win our very own Greek Olympics! Here are some photos of our day:

Year 5 Brownlee Triathlon Event

On Wednesday 23rd September 2015, all of Year 5 enjoyed a thrilling morning at John Smeaton Academy at the Active Schools Brownlee Triathlon event. The children arrived, equipped ready for an unforgettable experience, which began with a 30m swim, followed by a 300m run and 1km cycle. The children were bursting with excitement, but once briefed at the beginning, were surprised to discover that they had to go straight from the pool, get changed into their running gear and continue (without drying off!). Despite this initial shock, the whole of Year 5 thrived on the experience and went with it, all completing the stages and achieving a medal and goody bag. Upon completion of the course the children were delighted to be greeted by our very own British athlete Alistair Brownlee! He was surrounded by the class wanting autographs and photographs with him and the children were inspired by what he'd achieved. He even commented on the class, saying how well behaved they were and that he was privileged to be part of the event. All children behaved impeccably and were a credit to Primrose Lane. Here's what some of the children had to say about their experience: Heath- 'I really enjoyed the triathlon because I wouldn't have got that experience. It was just like a real one, because we had to swim 30 metres, then get out of the pool and put our PE kit on over our wet things. When we finished, we got a sports bag. I really enjoyed it' Orla- 'I really enjoyed this event because there were lots of fun activities to do and you might only have this opportunity once in a lifetime!' Olivia- 'I really enjoyed the triathlon, especially getting our shorts and medals signed by Alistair Brownlee!' Edward- 'At the end we were presented with our gold medals by Alistair Brownlee, as well as a goodie-bag. I liked getting my medal signed by Alistair. Very well done to Year 5 and thank you to Mr Jackson and all the other adults who accompanied the children.

Year 5’s visit to Murton Park
On Friday 2nd October 2015, Year 5 went on their ‘Home Front’ trip as part of their World War Two focus. We learnt lots, ranging from experiences of evacuees, women’s jobs and rationing, to general way of life during the war times, as well as various facts about the war itself. Throughout the day, the whole class represented the school impeccably, showing excellent behaviour, but also willingly showing to the leaders how much they already knew about World War Two. The leaders were very impressed at the knowledge the children were giving and the eagerness they had with answering and asking questions. 

 

Children got right into character for the day, coming into school dressed as evacuees, with their identity cards, ration books and labels attached to them showing who they were and where they came from. Throughout the day, children were straight in role conducting usual jobs expected from children and adults during the 1939-1945 era. The jobs ranged from creating rag rugs, cleaning and drying clothes, making flapjacks, putting out fire-bombs as fire-guards and putting up the blacks to ensure the Germans didn’t bomb us! Having said this, we did have a real life air-raid, where we ‘pulled together’ and shared Anderson shelters to keep us safe. 
It really was a pleasure to see such great learning first hand, with handling such artefacts as ‘gas masks’, different weapons used, helmets etc; as well as viewing what was a weeks ration for a child and adult would be…..we all agreed it was absolutely nothing- what do you think…?


 
 

Here is what some of us thought of the day:
Ella: ‘My favourite part of the trip was washing and cleaning, as well as pegging it out’;
Sammy H: ‘My favourite part was when we put out the firebomb, because it was like we were actually doing our bit for the war!’;
Emily: ‘I enjoyed when we had to soak the clothes in the bucket of water with ‘the dolly’ and then put them in the mangle to drain’;
Archie: ‘I loved extinguishing the fire’;
Olivia: ‘My favourite part was doing the washing, as well as extinguishing the fire, as it was actually like I was in 1940 putting the fire out’;
Orla: ‘I really enjoyed the rag-rugging, where you could use lots of different colours. It was fun to learn and do’;
Ben K: ‘I enjoyed when there was an air-raid, because we sang songs in the shelter to keep up morale’;
Edward: ‘I loved whisking the butter’;
Millie: ‘I enjoyed making flap-jacks and stirring them’.
Year 5 World War Two Visitor



On Monday 9th November 2015, Year 5 were lucky enough to have a visitor who lived during World War Two. Janet, was very young during the 1939-1945 era, and was able to recollect experiences she had; people she met; objects she cherished and many more! The children were fascinated with her experiences that she shared and engaged with some super questions to gain more information, as well as have more of an insight of what life was like during those times, for both adults and children.
Here is what some of the children thought:
Orla- ‘I really enjoyed learning about her experiences of what it was like to be an evacuee during World War 2 and how she didn’t mind the noises and the unfortunate things that were going on’;
Robbie- ‘I found it really interesting, because everybody had to keep their blankets wet and put it on the door to keep the gas out’;
Ellen- ‘I enjoyed looking at all the objects that Janet brought in’;
Ellieson- ‘I liked the part when Janet told us of her walking back from school with her friends and there was a German bomber going over. She stood on the road and waved (however, unfortunately, she got into trouble for this from the ARP warden)’;
Natalie- ‘I enjoyed looking at the toys she brought in, because they’re similar to the ones we have today’.
 
Maths

We have been learning various new strategies to add, subtract, multiply and divide, ensuring we can apply these to problems. Additionally, we continue to learn about time (along with reading and interpreting timetables), shape, area, perimeter, fractions, decimals, percentages and many more! 
English

Autumn 1:
This half term we have focussed on novels from familiar authors and creative writing, where we looked at Michelle Magorian with her text \'Goodnight Mr Tom\', linking it with our World War 2 topic. We have edited text and magpied certain ideas from her, including her use of alliteration, metaphor, simile, personification and excellent vocabulary. Come and see our own adapted stories to see our great use of these things. Also, we have re-read and acted out some traditional tales, but adapted them for an adult reader as opposed to a child reader. 

We have been learning about the Highway Man, which is an excellent poem to act out, describe and discuss features. We've really enjoyed learning about the Highway Man as a character, Bess, Tom the ostler and the story line which has been taught in a fun engaging way. Here is a link to one of the versions of the poem that we watched and listened to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqLZ7-pvez4

Below are freeze frames of us acting this out before writing our own versions.

Year 5 have been learning about cinquain poems and creating our own. There are different types of cinquain poems. Below are three kinds that we looked and to magpie the structures. However, some of us even tried combining two of them, and even all three together! We concentrated on adjectives, adverbs, similes, metaphors and personification. We hope you like them!

Cinquain Pattern #1 
Line1: One word
Line2: Two words
Line 3: Three words
Line 4: Four words
Line 5: One word

Cinquain Pattern #2 
Line1: A noun
Line2: Two adjectives
Line 3: Three -ing words
Line 4: A phrase
Line 5: Synonym (Another word for the noun)

Cinquain Pattern #3 
Line1: Two syllables
Line2: Four syllables
Line 3: Six syllables
Line 4: Eight syllables
Line 5: Two syllables

Can you spot which cinquian(s) we have done?
Science

In Science, we have been looking at the life-cycles of plants, how they reproduce and making comparisons between plants. We created our own investigation, where different groups chose to focus on different aspects related to 'GERMINATION'. These varied from 'light dark', 'different environments', 'seed planted in different places', 'different amounts of water' and 'temperature'. Here are some of the groups and their investigations up and running after session one!

Earth and Space

We have learnt lots about space, where we have conducted investigations into the distances of planets (which can be seen in the photos below), as well as produced our own planet powerpoints. We discussed the order of the planets using a pneumonic (My, very easy method just speeds up naming planets). We discussed Pluto being classed as a dwarf planet, but that it is still considered and even being researched to this day! We have also learnt various facts about the moon, including the phases, as well as it's purpose. We've loved it.....come and ask us some questions, we'd love to tell you more!

Properties and Changes of Materials

We have been learning various properties of materials with reactants, dissolving, recovering substances from solutions, separating materials (through sieving, filtering, evaporation etc), as well as learning about reversible and irreversible reactions. We've loved the investigations where we have worked scientifically, solved problems, worked as a team and ensured the investigations were fair. We have reasoned fair tests to ensuring that things are kept the same/ consistent throughout the investigation, as well as using the same/correct equipment.
Here are some pictures of us during investigations.

Cooking

Cooking Carrot Biscuits

With Year 5 learning about World War 2, we decided as a class all to cook some carrot biscuits using rationed ingredients. We all helped and had an input to the cooking and loved learning how the biscuits tasted nothing like carrots, but they were relatively healthy and 'helped us see in the dark'...! Here are some pictures of us enjoying it!

PE

In PE this half term we have been doing Athletics and Gymnastics. Our focus in Gymnastics in particular was 'Bridges', where we developed routines involving many shapes, travelling forms and balances. Below our some pictures of us performing and practising these shapes and routines, they've been excellent!

French 
In French this year, we have been learning to count up to at least 40 in French (speaking and writing)- un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq....

Also, we've learnt to greet people in French, including 'Je m'apelle ....(name)......., J'ai dix ans, et oi?'. 
We've learnt the names of some animals (snake = un serpent; mouse = un souris; dog = un chien; cat = un chat etc).

We've enjoyed the colour game, which gets competitive with groups shouting their colours (red = rouge; green = vert; blue = bleu; yellow = jaune; brown = marron; black = noir; white = blanc).

Additionally, we've learnt parts of our bodies with the traditional 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes' song, but with 'Tete, epaules, ginoux, pied' French song. We've loved learning about it and preparing for the football Euro 2016, incase we need to translate in any way! 

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